Raccoons (19-10) vs. Gold Sox (20-12) – May 11-13, 2048
The Gold Sox came in leading the FL West, and scoring the second-most runs in the FL, but were struggling a bit with pitching. While their rotation was strong and ranked second by ERA, their pen was rather not and pushing an ERA of almost five, easily in the bottom three teams in the Federal League. Overall they gave up the seventh-most runs in the FL, with a +30 run differential (Coons: +22). The Raccoons had seen their fair share of the Gold Sox the last few years, losing two of three in 2046, sweeping them in the regular season in 2047, and, oh, I think there was also a victorious World Series somewhere along …!
Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (1-2, 3.82 ERA) vs. John Kennedy (3-0, 1.91 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-3, 5.73 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (3-1, 2.20 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-2, 3.11 ERA) vs. Gary Perrone (5-0, 1.53 ERA)
Those were some ERA’s… we managed to miss the two starters of theirs that had actually struggled. For handedness, Kennedy was the only left-hander coming up here.
Game 1
DEN: CF S. Castillo – 1B Madrid – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – C Welch – 3B Bator – SS Jav. Ramos – RF A.L. Herrera – P Kennedy
POR: LF Watt – CF A. Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Baker
Ruben Gonzalez sent home three runners in the first two innings as the Critters took a 4-0 lead. The first two runs came in the second inning, with Ruben sending a 2-run homer over the fence in left-center, collecting Toohey along the way, while the two runs in the bottom 3rd were unearned for not one, but two Gold Sox errors on the infield. Gonzalez hit a 2-out RBI single to score Matt Watt. Jeremy Baker had already scored on a Justin Bator error, misfielding a grounder by Bryce Toohey that oughta have ended the inning. Baker befuddled the Gold Sox – he allowed nothing but two soft singles in the first five innings, getting a number of easy pops on the infield and whiffing three.
Three errors through five behind him kept Kennedy busy, although Ivan Villa’s error in the bottom 5th did not lead to more runs. It put Gonzalez on base in addition to Armando Herrera with two outs, but Gene Pellicano struck out to strand both of those runners. Baker struck out the side, composed of Kennedy, Sandy Castillo, and Alfonso Madrid, in the sixth, then managed to get dinged in the seventh, conceding a leadoff single to Villa, then a 2-run homer to right to Tim Turner. Whoops. Jesus “Many Millions” Maldonado countered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, stretching the lead to 5-2 again with his seventh shot of the year. Baker returned for the eighth, struck out PH Willie Ojeda, but then saw Castillo reach on an infield single. Preston Porter came on for the right-handed Madrid, who *also* reached on an infield single. I looked skywards and nodded in appreciation of the practical joke. Switch-hitter Ivan Villa hit into a fielder’s choice, after which the Coons sent Kuo to go up against the left-handed Turner, who worked out a walk to fill the bases with two outs. *Swing!* – there the bullpen door kicked open again, this time spewing forth Nelson Moreno, who had blown the game the day before, but this time rung up Oliver Welch to escape a mighty jam.
The tying run was back at the plate in the ninth with Lynn in command. Bator hit a blooper for a leadoff single in shallow left, while Javier Ramos reached base on a grounder to second base that Pat Gurney flunked for an error – Gurney had batted for hitless Josh Floyd in the bottom 8th in an attempt to make something of a prior pinch-hit single by Derek Baskins, a ploy that didn’t work and now tried to actively backfire. With the tying run at the dish, Lynn rung up Armando *Luis* Herrera, nailed Ryan Meyer, and had Castillo at 1-2 before allowing a grounder to third. Maldo’s only out was at first base, with a run scoring, and the tying runs moving into scoring position for .190 hitter Alfonso Madrid. Lynn got him swinging or strike three. 5-3 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Baker 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (2-2) and 1-3;
TIGHT.
The solo homer marked the 900th career RBI for Maldonado. He was rewarded with a day off on Tuesday.
Game 2
DEN: SS R. Thompson – C Alba – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – RF A.L. Herrera – 1B Willie Ojeda – 3B Zuniga – P I. Mendoza
POR: CF Watt – SS Martell – 2B Gurney – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – RF Pellicano – 3B Coen – C Prow – P Wheatley
After Wheatley surrendered a run on three hits to Turner, Ojeda and Edwin Zuniga in the top 2nd, the Raccoons began the bottom 2nd by loading the bags with Toohey, Manny, Pellicano, and nobody out, courtesy of a leadoff walk, an infield single, and a proper single to right, respectively, and yes, to the Gold Sox defense – if you let Manny Fernandez’ 38-year-old bones reach on an infield single, you have to go back to Glove School…! Of course the Raccoons had to go back to Stick School themselves, not scoring from that fat chance. Ben Coen popped out, Kevin Prow whiffed, and Jason Wheatley rolled over to Villa in a full count.
The score was flipped in the bottom 3rd regardless; Al Martell hit a single to center, and Pat Gurney hit a ball over the fence in right to put Wheats up 2-1. The whole shebang didn’t hold up, though, and the writing was a bit on the wall. Wheats struggled with control, was all over the zone, and the Gold Sox hit a few balls into hard outs, a practice they stopped in the fifth inning when Sandy Castillo doubled home Fernando Alba to tie the game, and Ivan Villa homered to left to make it 4-2 Denver. Wheatley completed the inning, but on 102 pitches was done for the day, and on the hook yet again.
Scoreless relief from Bonnie and Ibold kept the Gold Sox in place through eight innings, although the Raccoons offense produced little of note until Derek Baskins doubled to left while batting for Bob Ibold to lead off the bottom 8th, which kindly made him reach the .200 mark for the first time this season… He scored on two groundouts to shorten the score to 4-3, but that didn’t really advance our cause all that well. Gurney hit a 2-out single, but Toohey grounded out to short to end the inning. Kevin Hitchcock worked around a Ronnie Thompson single in the top 9th to keep the Gold Sox at least close, while the Sox sent left-hander Alex Lewis and his 6.75 ERA to defend the 4-3 lead in the bottom 9th. Manny still remained in the game as the leadoff man, but grounded out to Villa, as did Pellicano. Maldonado batted for Coen, but also grounded out on the first pitch. 4-3 Gold Sox. Gurney 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1, 2B; Bonnie 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;
Game 3
DEN: CF S. Castillo – 3B Zuniga – SS R. Thompson – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – C Welch – 1B Madrid – RF Bator – P Perrone
POR: CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Merino
Merino got run over in the second inning, conceding at first three hits to Tim Turner, Alfonso Madrid, and Justin Bator for a run, then a walk to Sandy Castillo to load the bases. Edwin Zuniga then singled home two more runners before the inning ended on a Thompson fly out. Those four singles were the only Denver hits in the first five innings, but the Raccoons didn’t even set paw on third base until Pat Gurney hit a solo homer with two outs in the bottom 5th to shorten the score to 3-1. Another scoreless inning was added by Merino, allowing a leadoff double to Ivan Villa, who got stranded by the next three batters, and Bob Ibold struck out the side in the seventh inning. Hitchcock and Bonnie provided even more scoreless relief after that, but the offense just couldn’t seem to find even second gear, or second base, or whatever. Perrone struck out eight in as many innings, and Alex Lewis retired Watt, Gonzalez, and Martell in order in the ninth to put the lid on. 3-1 Gold Sox. Martell 2-4;
Raccoons (20-12) @ Titans (16-19) – May 15-17, 2048
The Titans had lost six in a row, hinting at problems with their mix of a mediocre offense (9th in runs scored) and average pitching (5th in runs allowed). They lacked power and speed, as well as a bullpen. The Raccoons had posted a 3-game sweep over them in the first series of the season, but that had been in Portland. Nothing good ever happened in Boston.
Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-0, 2.27 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (2-2, 4.94 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 4.72 ERA) vs. David Barel (3-3, 2.03 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (2-2, 3.55 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (3-3, 2.88 ERA)
Right, left, right, and hopefully a few wins…
Game 1
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – LF Baskins – P J. Jackson
BOS: 1B Haertling – 2B Kohr – SS C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – C W. Gardner – RF L. Estrada – LF C. Vega – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Serio
At least we got a good start. Matt Watt was hit to begin the game, and a Maldo double, a Toohey sac fly, and Gurney’s RBI single to center produced two first-inning runs before it ended. Unfortunately Jackson gave one run back right away, conceding a double to Ed Haertling and a single to Chris Jimenez to make it 2-1, then also walked Wade Gardner before poor contact by Leo Estrada ended the inning. Carlos Vega opened the bottom 2nd with a single to center, then advanced on two groundouts before Haertling popped to shallow center with two outs. Martell dropped the ball for an error, the Titans tied the game, and Jackson came apart with another hit, a hit batter, and a 2-run double by Tony Lopez before Gardner mercifully grounded out to Martell. The Coons, come the top 3rd, then loaded the bases with one out as Serio hit Maldo and Toohey back-to-back, which neither one appreciated much, and a Gurney single made it three aboard. Ruben Gonzalez then enjoyed himself in hitting into a 4-6-3 double play.
Nothing good ever happens in Boston. Did I mention that?
Jackson went five, allowing a Vega homer in the third and another two hits for one more run in the fourth inning for six total, while Watt plated Martell with a groundout in the fourth, which was about the extent to which the Raccoons seemed willing to rally. We didn’t reach in the sixth, we didn’t reach in the eighth. When Maldo reached with a single in the seventh, Toohey doubled him up right away. And all that was before Nelson Moreno got spanked for another three runs in the eighth inning. Top 9th, down by six, the Raccoons’ Prow, Watt, and Herrera all reached base with one out against lefty Victor Scott, who allowed a single, a walk, and another single. The runners scored on a Maldo groundout and a 2-run double by Toohey, but then Emanuel Caceiro came on to replace Scott and restore order against Gurney. 9-6 Titans. Maldonado 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gurney 2-5, RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1;
Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Gurney – RF Pellicano – SS Floyd – P Okuda
BOS: 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Kohr – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – C W. Gardner – 2B T. Thompson – LF C. Vega – P Barel
Another day, another moist start. Watt drew a leadoff walk, then was doubled off by Herrera, while the Titans got Jose Rodriguez on with a leadoff single. Jason Kohr forced him out with a grounder, but then stole second and scored on a Tony Lopez hit to put the Titans up 1-0. Toohey was nailed to begin the top 2nd, and came around on a wild pitch and a Pellicano single to tie it up again, with Pellicano then caught stealing to end the inning, but at least he picked a wannabe 2-run homer by Vega off the top of the fence in the bottom of the inning… The bottom fell out of it in the third inning again anyway. Okuda walked Rodriguez, allowed a single to Kohr, and they pulled off a double steal before back-to-back doubles by Haertling and Gardner plated three runs.
I gave up on the game, but Maldo insisted I keep watching, tripling home Watt and Herrera in a 2-out rally in the sixth inning to cut the gap to a single run, but then was stranded. While Toohey walked, Gonzalez whiffed, and that ended the inning. Okuda returned for the bottom 6th and just ****** up more. Leadoff walk to Gardner, then a pair of singles by the left-handed 8-9 hitters, including the pitcher. Barel drove home Gardner, 5-3, and Ibold gave up a sac fly to Rodriguez to restore the 3-run gap.
Barel went into the eighth with his 6-3 lead, then put Watt and Herrera aboard ahead of Maldonado *again*. This time though, Maldo grounded over to Gerardo Galaz for a fielder’s choice. Toohey hit a 2-out RBI single up the middle, and Gonzalez an RBI single to right to get us to a 1-run deficit again… and also Barel out of the game. Left-hander Jonathan Lewis replaced him, and the Coons sent Ben Coen to counter with a righty bat in place of Gurney, a mad ploy that actually worked when Coen dropped in the third straight RBI single in right-center, tying the game at six…! Pellicano then grounded out, stranding two. From there, the game went to extras with scoreless relief work by Porter and Kuo, but Scott kept the Coons off the bases, too. Kuo continued in the bottom 10th, retired Galaz and Vega, then had a Floyd error put Justin Brooks on base before yielding a double to Rodriguez that probably would have ended the game with any other runner carrying the winning run, but Brooks had to be stopped at third base and was stranded when Kohr grounded out to short. Kuo’s spot – the #6 in the lineup – led off the top 11th against Scott, with Kevin Prow batting instead and doubling into the gap in left-center. Despite Pellicano remaining useless with another K, the Coons loaded the bases on an intentional walk to Floyd (!?) and a Martell single, bringing up the top of the order again. Watt ran a full count, then popped out. Herrera ran a full count, then actually laid off the crap and took ball four to push across the go-ahead run in Prow. That brought up Maldo again, who fell to 1-2 when we could really use an insurance run or two. He provided four on the 1-2 pitch. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!
Scott was yoinked after that and replaced with Tommy Griffith, who loaded the bags with a Toohey double, a walk to Gonzalez, and by nicking Prow in the ribs. Pellicano reliably flew out to left to strand the lot of them. Thankfully Mike Lynn got through the bottom of the inning without allowing more than four runs… 11-6 Raccoons. Watt 2-5, BB; Maldonado 2-6, HR, 3B, 6 RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Coen (PH) 1-1, RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1, 2B; Martell 2-2; Kuo 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-0);
MALDO IS THE ******* MAN!!!!
(Herrera looks miffed, having driven in the actual winning run)
Game 3
POR: CF Watt – 2B Martell – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – C Prow – LF Baskins – SS Floyd – P Baker
BOS: 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Kohr – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – C W. Gardner – 2B Galaz – LF C. Vega – P Mondragon
Josh Floyd couldn’t hit a lick, but when Prow and Baskins went to the corners to begin the top 2nd after landing a pair of base knocks, Floyd at least grounded out in such a way that only he was out and Prow could score to tie the game after Baker gave up a 2-out run on a Haertling RBI single in the first. A wild pitch moved Baskins to third base, from where he scored to put the Coons up 2-1 when Baker grounded out to short. Kohr and Jimenez began the bottom 3rd with a walk and a single, setting up camp on the corners with nobody out. Lopez whiffed, and Haertling hit a comebacker for a fielder’s choice at second base, all the while keeping Kohr stuck at third, where he remained until Gardner grounded out to Maldo to end the inning… and then Galaz hit a leadoff jack to left-center to tie the game in the fourth anyway…
While the Raccoons did not reach base at all in the middle innings, there was never a shortage of runners against Baker, who fell to the Titans in the sixth. Gardner hit a single, and Vega and Mondragon (…) slapped a pair of 2-out RBI doubles to put Boston up 4-2…
The Critters were stuck on three base hits through seven before Armando Herrera opened the eighth with a pinch-hit triple for Kevin Hitchcock in the #9 hole. Mondragon was still in the game, surrendered the run on Watt’s groundout, but retired Martell and Maldo as well to stay ahead, 4-3. In the ninth it was lefty Jonathan Lewis against the 4-5-6 batters. Although he only needed the #4 batter to blow the game, serving up a homer to Bryce Toohey on a 1-2 pitch. The next three batters made outs – that bottom of the order was a wasteland – and Bob Ibold returned to the mound after having already cleaned up behind Bonnie in the bottom 8th. Estrada and Kohr hit 1-out singles of him, with Estrada to third on Kohr’s single and Kohr stealing second to take the double play away. When Chris Jimenez grounded to Martell, he fired home and actually managed to throw out Estrada! That restored the Titans to the corners with two outs, where they remained when Tony Lopez punched a K against Ibold, giving us back-to-back extra innings. The Coons went down 1-2-3 in the 10th against Lewis before Mike Lynn gave up a leadoff triple to Haertling in the bottom of that inning. There was no coming back from this one, although Martell tried to get another 4-2 out at home on Taylor Steffensen’s grounder to second base, but this time he was too late. 5-4 Titans. Herrera (PH) 1-1, 3B; Ibold 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;
In other news
May 12 – WAS SP Cory Ellis (1-4, 4.87 ERA) no-hits the Thunder for seven innings, but already concedes a run when he walks the bases loaded and gives up a sac fly in the bottom 7th, which also ends his 1-0 lead. The Thunder scratch out two singles and a run for a 2-1 win in the bottom 8th.
May 12 – SFB SP Rafael Pedraza (1-1, 3.92 ERA) would miss six weeks with a torn meniscus.
May 12 – It takes 12 innings to find a run in in the Wolves-Crusaders game, with NYC 3B/SS Brad Critzer (.222, 2 HR, 6 RBI) ending the affair with a walkoff RBI double for a 1-0 Crusaders win.
May 14 – TOP SP Aaron Bryant (0-4, 4.54 ERA) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL and is going to miss the next 12 months.
May 14 – Indy would be without INF Andrew Russ (.277, 0 HR, 4 RBI) for the next six weeks; the 27-year-old was out with a sprained thumb.
May 16 – Everybody in the Canadiens lineup gets at least one hit, one run and one RBI in a 15-4 romp of the Loggers… except for Adrian Higareda (.189, 1 HR, 5 RBI), who has two hits, two runs, but no RBI.
May 17 – CIN SP Lachlan Clarke (0-5, 6.75 ERA) is found out to have elbow ligament damage as the root of his struggles. He will miss 12 months for the necessary reconstruction surgery.
May 17 – Loggers INF/LF/RF Alfredo Napoles (.280, 2 HR, 17 RBI) has five hits and only misses the homer for a cycle in a game against the Canadiens. Napoles drives in two runs in the 10-4 Loggers victory.
FL Player of the Week: RIC 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.364, 6 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .500 (9-18) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 1B Sam Witherspoon (.288, 8 HR, 19 RBI), socking .526 (10-19) with 5 HR, 10 RBI
Complaints and stuff
Losing Adame and Waters has thinned the lineup so badly that it’s a bit of a chore to score runs right now. We’re a broken Maldo leg away from a losing spiral to the depths of the Loggers…
Maldo was within 13 points of batting average away from a triple crown on Saturday, but an oh-fer on Sunday dropped him quite a bit away from Vegas’ Kevin Weese. He still ties for the lead in both homers and RBI in the CL, and 34 RBI in 35 games surely ain’t bad.
It’s the middle of May and everybody bugs me with new contracts. Manny, Martell, Jackson… which makes me think that the abyss is nearer than I previously thought and they all want to make a few more millions before the ship goes down for good. We’ll see whether it remains afloat next week against the Crusaders and Condors.
One thing that disturbs me? We went through the rotation seven times, and only Merino has more than two wins among the starters, and he only has three, either…! Bob Ibold and Mike Lynn have more wins than Wheats and the rest of the rotation…!
Fun Fact: Sadaharu Okuda has a wicked 5.45 ERA and yet has not lost a game yet.
(opens snout)
(closes snout)
Sometimes I just don’t know. Getting five and a half runs of support per game might be part of the trick...